Weinachten

Phew, now that I'm finally caught up on my travel blogs, I can tell you all a little bit about my past 2 weekends in Heidelberg! It's been lots of fun just staying at the house because we've had friends visiting from other programs. This past weekend one of my suitemates from last year who's in the London program surprised me with a visit! She ran into my room around 2am on Friday morning and it was fantastic. Although I had taken 2 Tylenol PMs around midnight (MISTAKE. lesson learned) and felt really drowsy and expressionless, so I was repeatedly apologizing for not acting more excited, because I actually was, but just lacked the capacity to show it. One of my other suitemates was here this weekend too so we had a nice little suite runion. It was a great weekend with schnitzel, coffee, thai food, shopping, candy, and lots of laughing and reminiscing.
The main street is getting all set up for Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) which open tomorrow. Everyone in the house is so excited for it to start. There are a lot of food booths (my favorite are the candied almonds and feuerwursts and gluhwein) and craft things (handmade ornaments, santa clauses, wooden toys, etc.). The street is also getting all decorated with big stars that hang between the buildings and garlands around every lamp post. There's also an ice skating rink!
It's freezing cold out here. Literally. It SNOWED this weekend. Maybe coming from Southern California it what made this a grand novelty for me, but it really was a big deal. Everyone who was in the house ran outside screaming and taking pictures. It was so much fun. And Sunday a few of us went to a Christmas tree farm and picked out the biggest tree for Moore Haus! The farm was run by this little old couple who served us cookies and homemade schnapps (hijole!) after we'd picked out our tree. It's floor to ceiling in our reception room waiting to be decorated!
Every time I look out the window and see the town of Heidelberg lit up below I can't believe how incredibly blessed I am to be here. Love you and miss you all!